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Tip

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Method

Put a large saucepan of water on to boil. Finely chop
the pancetta, having first removed any rind. Finely
grate both cheeses and mix them together. Beat the
eggs in a medium bowl, season with a little freshly
grated black pepper and set everything aside.

Add 1 tsp salt to the boiling water, add the spaghetti
and when the water comes back to the boil, cook at a
constant simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until al
dente (just cooked).

Squash the garlic with the blade of a knife, just to
bruise it. While the spaghetti
is cooking, fry the pancetta
with the garlic. Drop the
butter into a large wide
frying pan or wok and, as
soon as the butter has
melted, tip in the pancetta
and garlic. Leave these to
cook on a medium heat for
about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the pancetta is
golden and crisp. The garlic has now imparted its
flavour, so take it out with a slotted spoon and discard.

Keep the heat under the pancetta on low.When the
pasta is ready lift it from the water with a pasta fork or
tongs and put it in the frying pan with the pancetta (see
left). Don’t worry if a little water drops in the pan as well
(you want this to happen) and don’t throw the rest of
the pasta water away yet.

Mix most of the cheese in with the eggs, keeping a
small handful back for sprinkling over later. Take the
pan of spaghetti and pancetta off the heat. Now
quickly pour in the eggs and cheese and, using the
tongs or a long fork, lift up the spaghetti so it mixes
easily with the egg mixture, which thickens but doesn’t
scramble, and everything is coated. Add extra pasta
cooking water to keep it saucy (several tablespoons
should do it). You don’t want it wet, just moist. Season
with a little salt, if needed.

Use a long-pronged fork to twist the pasta on to the
serving plate or bowl. Serve immediately with a little
sprinkling of the remaining cheese and a grating of
black pepper. If the dish
does get a little dry before
serving, splash in some
more hot pasta water and
the glossy sauciness will
be revived.

Comments

I've never made this before and am a pretty novice cook so forgive me if this sounds silly, but it sounds like the egg is pretty much raw (or half raw) when you serve the meal? Wouldn't this make you ill? I'm such a worry wart and have no idea about things like this!

The egg is cooked delicately so that it doesn't taste raw but isn't scrambled - the heat of the freshly boiled spaghetti warms it gently. Carbonara is always made this way, so unfortunately if the level of cooked-ness doesn't sit with you this dish is not the one for you! It is very unlikely to make you ill.

Wow. This dish is glorious. I made it exactly as written and served it with a salad of Roquette with a little balsamic and olive oil. So good, definitely a recipe to make over and over. P.s. Goes down a treat with a nice mineral-y Sauvignon blanc

Went down a treat with the Wife and Kids! Used 100g of Parmesan as couldn't find pecorino cheese. Did find it went cold quite quickly, I think this is because the eggs came straight from the fridge. Would definitely make again, quick, simple and tasty!

This carbonara is by far the best I've ever tasted let alone cooked. Once I'd made it I couldn't actually believe how good it was! I'm use to making cream sauces and never felt like they were really that nice! No wonder why, carbonara is suppose to be made with eggs not cream! So glad I mastered this sauce and to be honest it took me 15min to make and I had 4 people try it and they all said it was lovely and questioned how I'd made it so quick!
My eggs didn't scramble woooohooo! If you follow the recipe its impossible to stuff this up! Will definitely be making this again. I added mushrooms as well and it was brilliant!

Amazing flavour for this recipe, although my mixture ended up quite wet and also cold - any tips?

I removed panchetta/butter from heat to add eggs/cheese and turned the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until all was covered. But the mixture was now cold. I grilled quickly but didn't want to risk scrambling the eggs.

I've made this a few times and it is so, so good - much better than any restaurant I've been to and it's lovely and creamy tasting even though no cream is used.

For all of those that have commented that they are left with scrambled eggs, this is most likely because you are not taking the pasta off the heat before adding the egg.
The egg should just be cooked from the warmth of the pasta, if you have it still on the hob it's obvious that they will scramble!
I done this one in error and it was inedible haha althought I knew the mistake was mine and not the recipes.

Well I am feeling a bit silly right now. 25 yrs ago (late teans/early 20's) my Aunt told me a great "After the nightclub" recipe called Bacon and Egg Spaghetti which I cooked everytime friends came back to the house. Used to whip this up so quickly and all were happy. Mom used to cook Carbonara heavily ladled with cream and was told this was the true Carbonara so I followed her instructions for years. Been looking for a "lighter" version of Mum's recipe and little did I realise that I had been using the true one all along. I stopped cooking Bacon and Egg Spaghetti years ago but will defiantly be going back and showing my daughter how to cook it tonight (with smoked pancetta). Thank you Aunt Gill and BBC good food...... Now have to teach Mom the right way :)

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